The Might Of USAF F-15 Eagle Fighter Aircraft | Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag | Spark

my grandfather was a fighter pilot he flew one of the greatest fighters of all time the f4u corsair he flew throughout the pacific in world war ii he was at guam midway and okinawa he was awarded all kinds of medals including three distinguished flying crosses and 11 air medals when i was a kid i thought he must have won the war all by himself my parents named me john after him and he was my hero and when i grew up i wanted to be a fighter pilot just like my grandpa honor one clear for takeoff unrestricted climb to flight level two five zero then as filed see you guys [Music] [Music] [Music] otter one miami center contaction center 238.5 101 uh heads up traffic 3506 miles 22 000 feet eastbound [Music] miami [Music] as a young guy at a flight school flying the most powerful fighter ever built it's hard not to think of yourself as pretty cool and i did [Music] so when my squadron went to nellis for my first red flag i was excited for sure but i'll tell you i was a little nervous about what i was getting into otter one is [Music] welcome to nellis [Music] here at nellis air force base in nevada 128 aircraft from six countries have assembled for the largest air combat exercises in the world for the next 14 days these aircraft and their crews will undertake a simulated air war for many it will be the final tune-up before they go into actual combat they call it red flag [Music] take your seats ladies and gentlemen good morning to our american pilots and crews and especially to our allied partners i'd like to be the first to welcome you to red flag nations from around the world are gathered here today including countries from germany with their tornadoes italy with their f-16 here i was surrounded by the best fighter pilots in the world but i think that all of us young pilots felt like we had something to prove that we deserved to be there and i wasn't any different best aircraft in fact together you currently represent the second largest combat air force anywhere in the world [Music] on the first morning of red flag the nellis flight line prepares to launch an enormous international armada of aircraft all in about 20 minutes [Music] there are 22 f-15 eagles representing four american squadrons they are considered by many to be the greatest fighter aircraft ever built [Music] the germans have brought eight of their european-built tornadoes the canadians the multi-role f-18 hornet arriving from alberta in quebec the british royal navy has flown in their famous harrier jump jets represented here are not just the best pilots and aircraft but the finest ground crews from each [Music] for most personnel this will be their first opportunity to compare themselves with other squadrons from across the united states and around the world [Music] cool [Music] one runway [Music] boys [Music] takeoff between the two only one copy it has long been known that if fighter pilots could survive their first 10 combat missions their chances of surviving throughout their careers improves dramatically red flag was created to provide those first 10 missions and they make it as real as humanly possible what is about to happen is considered by pilots to be more challenging and dangerous than war itself a ghostly b2 heavy bomber floats toward the battlefield their job is to destroy the ground-based missile launchers before the enemy is even aware of the coming battle [Music] a pair of stealth f-117s follow close behind b1s have arrived from an undisclosed distant location to provide additional bomber support if necessary [Music] a u2 begins its long climb to the edge of space sending intelligence to the a-wax surveillance aircraft [Music] onboard the aywax is airboss major rob novotny he will monitor the air war about to take place aywax crews use inputs from space systems and radar to understand the battle situation [Music] each aircraft broadcasts real-time telemetry that appears as three-dimensional imagery on board the a-wax [Music] in this war most of the aircraft are good guys known as the blue force the bad guys are the red force or the aggressors [Music] the bad guys fly 12 highly maneuverable f-16s they are among the finest pilots in the united states air force tractor is the red forces mission commander for most of the pilots red flag is their first taste of an air battle on a massive scale there is no other way to prepare air crews for the real thing in all its precision complexity and finally chaos great and viper's checked in as well correct yep talk to me about the strike package here what are you showing it's got the viper platter 2 [Music] the green guys right there are those the canadians uh and we got canadians of the orange guys i thought the british were the orange guys and the green guys were the canadians that were gonna check british green canadians five miles out both sides begin firing heat-seeking missiles [Music] are used to distract the inbound missiles from enemy aircraft 3302 [Music] as planes are hit and declared killed they turn white on the nexus screen the good guys then must disengage and return to base the aggressors get to regenerate and return to the fight once the battle begins the air boss and his team struggled to keep 128 aircraft from six countries from smashing into each other you've seen here viper flights northbound at six thousand wow you need to get on the phone right now moving two miles in closing using simulated machine guns a classic dog fight ensues off my nose [Music] huh they're giving me a good fight [Music] chocolate [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] i've got shots in here [Music] you're dead red flag is not a contest or a competition there are no winners or losers it is about training and saving lives i was killed on my first mission at red flag i was mad and i had a long lonely flight back to base to think about it the commanders walk a very fine line in order to save lives in real combat they are forced to take very real risks in training they are pushing the limits in a controlled environment however what i want to do is not talk about the ingress route i i want to talk about instead a near mid-air collision that we had up here in the east west area chocolate one flight you briefed us earlier today that you were going to maintain your route unless you deviated up here to the north nobody knew about it because you failed to communicate your change in flight path as a result of that eight people nearly lost their lives today at red flag don't let it happen again the range restrictions for today's sortie remain unchanged easy east west the 70 series ranges you're cleared supersonic my fears are screwing up single-handedly were largely unfounded we all made mistakes and we knew we had to fix them if we wanted to get through the next two weeks of its intentional or unintentional in modern warfare these pilots will have the most of fear from the ground below surface-to-air missiles fired from every conceivable platform have proliferated by the millions worldwide in this radar is the snapshot radar next to on the other side they call it the threat center equipped entirely with enemy weapons it is based on the same principle used in science museums if visitors can get their hands on the exhibits it's a more effective learning experience you have one that is the driving you have a second one up at the top that operates a 90 millimeter gun pilots call it the petting zoo some guys got a big kick out of it i would go back and play around again and again but i didn't see much value in it at least at the time it has a vertical range of 49 000 feet and horizontal range of about 69 000 feet it fires 15 rounds per minute each round i don't think we appreciated the efforts of the intelligence people as much as we should have it's not until much later when the missiles start flying around your ears and you think i should have listened a little more when they were talking about this stuff now you have the gunner sitting in the front and the pilot behind him the gun is responsible for all the weapons the only weapon that the pilot can control is the front gun at 5am each day they search for perhaps a single pebble blown overnight onto the runway by the desert wind one tiny pebble that otherwise might get sucked into an aircraft's engine it's quite possible for a crew to lose both their aircraft and their lives before even leaving the [Music] ground [Applause] [Music] searching [Applause] 600 miles an hour under the radar hugging the rocks and at the same time you're trying to out-think and not fly it's what fighter pilots live for radar make sure you get that information real quick looks like he needs some help [Music] here a squadron of f-15 search enemy territory for potential targets tractor and his aggressors have an edge in these games this is their playground they have chased visiting pilots through these canyons for years they make a formidable enemy sniper flight most kills wins let's go the object is to get the enemy in front of you while at the same time watching your back sound and then get as close as possible before being detected [Music] [Music] the pilot in front has few options he must lose ground quickly in order to get behind the aggressor in the blink of an eye the hunter becomes the hunted flares they're targeting me o'clock closing chocolate is engaged [Music] nice move [Music] it helped to win a few battles to build confidence but it became less about keeping individual scores and more and more about a successful overall mission shooting down the bad guys is extremely important but it's just a small part of the greater objective if the bombs don't hit their targets none of us has accomplished our mission [Music] [Music] [Music] the missions become more and more challenging as red flag progresses combat periods are extended in length and intensity and exhausted pilots are often required to refuel their aircraft simply to make it back to base believe it or not sometimes the toughest part of the mission is just getting there and back refueling is one of the most challenging skills to master it can be a serious situation if you can't take on fuel in real combat if you run out of gas have to eject you risk being captured [Music] stabilize ready [Music] number one looking for a hundred thousand pounds there is no margin for error if a pilot takes too long connecting with the fuel boom he or she may endanger the lives of pilots at the end of the line field [Music] emergency crews are responding low-level flying is particularly hard on fighter aircraft engines suck in dust and even birds because squadrons are visiting from around the world there are rarely spare aircraft in case of mechanical problems ground crews are put under intense pressure to keep their aircraft flying mechanics are well aware that a small error in the assembly of the engine could result in a fatal explosion either on the test bed or in the air all righty going up to max go ahead keep an eye on it all right we got back thank you were stories that my grandfather told me as a kid that began to come back to me once i was a pilot the machine gun that jammed the gas tank sitting in your lap waiting to blow up the parachutes they didn't always have time to put on [Music] i remember he said they were more proud of the bullet holes in their aircraft than they were of their medals they all wanted to shoot down the enemy but i think my grandfather changed his views as he got older he admired the young enemy pilots and their incredible bravery i remember he spoke of them with respect after 22 hours of hard work an f-15s engine is ready for the next mission at red flag they seek to exceed the intensity of a combat environment not just for the pilots but for the mechanics and ground crews as well it is difficult enough to turn out a perfect aircraft at the best of times to do so in wartime when rushed exhausted and under fire is an art form like no other today is the halfway point at red flag however we all know that planned missions are easy ones and this mission today is not planned from my own personal combat experiences and those of us at the red flag staff i can tell you it's the unplanned missions they're the most dangerous ones and that's why we've added this mission to the red flag course you're going to have to go further into enemy territory because lives are at stake if all of you aren't at the top of your game people are going to lose their lives today [Music] ladies and gentlemen i've just been told that we've lost an aircraft and we have a pilot on the ground we know his general location however he's on the move and the reason he's on the move is right here the enemy is doing everything they can to capture him they give you no warning whatsoever for this exercise you have nothing except what you would normally carry in the aircraft's ejection seat water flares radio and makeup [Music] in this exercise the commander can communicate via satellite with a downed pilot but the pilot on the ground must remain silent in order not to give away his position speaking in coded language he warns the pilot of the approaching danger from both the ground and the air tell your man to get down now pull up now first thing is to hope and pray that the enemy doesn't know about you in the first place timing is everything because when you use the radio or flares both sides are coming hello 28 west one one five zero six nineteen six to seven vehicles with enemy choppers moving in to pick up the downed pilot the air boss calls in slow-flying a-10s to eliminate the helicopters [Music] [Music] aboard landing zone is clear when they came to pick me up i wasn't completely sure if they were the good guys or not to the search and rescue team the man on the ground might not be a friendly at all he could be wearing a stolen uniform and have a bomb strapped to his body he will be treated like the enemy until he proves otherwise i really thought the search and rescue was going to be silly but when i saw the pjs were training in earnest they were fully prepared to do it for real risk their lives for someone they didn't even know i was truly humbled all charlie's excellent work return to base advising medics throughout red flag i began to appreciate the idea that i was part of a team that everyone's role was just as important as mine [Music] my grandfather didn't talk much about himself but he did talk about the friends he made ground crews mechanics other pilots [Music] one of his best friends was a corsair pilot killed in a training accident and i know it bothered him for the rest of his life throughout the history of air combat countless aircrews have successfully brought their battle-damaged aircraft home only to die on the runway a few feet and a few moments from rescue [Music] [Music] [Music] many of us have lost friends in accidents it's a lot safer than it used to be but it's still a dangerous business there are crews a red flag you want coming in after you're stuck in a burning plane people not much concern for their own safety we will get you out of there no matter what [Music] approaching the final missions of the red flag the dummy weapons are traded for the real thing in a single overnight shift hundreds of live bombs are prepared for the next day's operation again there is pressure to perform as would be expected in a combat environment they work quickly but with great care [Music] a slight error in a critical setting could destroy an aircraft and its crew [Music] there are risks for the bomb builders as well they work deep in the bottom of a canyon miles from the base in the event that something does go wrong what i'm about to show you is the enemy's last attempt to fortify their frontline forces we've learned that they're bringing everything forward that they can surface to surface rockets tanks and anti-aircraft guns everything we've done at this point has been for training today we're going to do it for real and we're going to give them everything that we've got in a real war the vast majority of flights are undertaken not by fighters and bombers but by transport and tanker aircraft at red flag a giant c-17 using gps navigation practices precision dropping of humanitarian supplies with the weapons we have today hitting anything but the intended target is the worst thing a pilot can possibly do so so so [Music] [Music] [Music] red flag was my first real experience to witness live orders and it was sobering indeed [Music] seven or eight let's bring him home for one target's hit with bingo fuel more flight roger return to base java flights going in i thought red flag was a chance to prove myself then it became all about pulling off a good mission there was a lot of personal satisfaction in that but now thinking back what i learned at red flag was not just about how good i was or wasn't it was the sense of becoming part of something more important than myself becoming part of a community of people with so many skills making personal sacrifices looking out for each other getting the job done [Music] [Applause] i made friends with pilots and crews from all over the states and around the world brits canadians germans [Music] aussies [Music] it was a wonderful experience and i'll remember it as long as i live i've been lucky to have many great wingmen to watch over me but there is one who's been with me the longest and to me he remains the greatest hero of them all my grandfather said that being a fighter pilot was the best job on earth [Music] he also said that going to war was worse than anything i could possibly imagine i would have to say that he was right on both counts [Music] [Music] you

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Keywords: Spark, Science, Technology, Engineering, Learning, How To, education, documentary, factual, mind blown, construction, building, full documentary, space documentary, bbc documentary, Science documentary, top gun, aircraft carrier takeoff, aircraft carrier landing, dogfights history channel, dogfight footage, us military, f-15 eagle, air combat, air force, red flag exercise, fighter pilot, military exercise, armed forces, female pilot, f-15 eagle vertical takeoff, top gun 2 trailer

Id: ctyoAE5dTrU

Length: 45min 48sec (2748 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 06 2021